I just wanted to post in about the PSN intrusion again in case people are just getting home from work and haven’t heard the news. To reiterate, Sony made a press release late this afternoon indicating that the reason for the recent PlayStation Network outage was due to “an unauthorized person” obtaining confidential user information, including usernames and passwords by hacking into the PlayStation Network. They may have also obtained credit card information though Sony officials are unsure at this point. Sony is advising all users of the PlayStation network to change their passwords if they use the same password on other sites and potentially report a compromise of any credit card information they have used to make purchases on the PSN.

All the while this was going on, MyIGN was affected by seeming losses in user data, with the result being that users could not see one another’s content for several hours. This happened almost immediately after my last post, in which I tried to warn the community as quickly as possible about the announcement from Sony, so that they could act to protect their information as quickly as possible. This is another reason for the double post. As of the time of this writing, things on the MyIGN network seem to have returned to normal.

Getting back to the issue with the PlayStation network, it's clear that Sony has a lot to answer for. The above press release is basically an admission of not one, but FOUR gigantic screw ups on Sony’s part.

They did not adequately secure their network to prevent an attack

Confidential user information such as passwords was apparently left unencrypted

They did not tell anyone that their information had been compromised for 6 days

They have been unable to restore the network for 6 days

The second item in this list is actually the most alarming, though it is probably the one that will receive the least press. Encrypting passwords is the most basic, simple and effective thing that can be done to protect user information and it is just mind boggling that a company as huge as Sony wouldn’t know that. I just can’t find the words to express how shocking of a realization it was to read that passwords had actually been compromised.

But that’s all I have to say about that at the moment, as there is actual big news going on that deserves our attention. Namely, it’s Dinosaur Week on IGN! And in honor of Dinosaur Week, I have a special treat. A friend and I made the following a few weeks ago and stuck it on the fridge at work. I thought I would post it here to add to all the festivities! (He drew the herbivore, and I, the carnivore, in case you’re wondering)